How Seniors and Riders With Disabilities Get a Metro Reduced Fare TAP Card

Bring proof of age or disability to a Metro Customer Center, and the most you'll pay for a week of rides drops from $18 to $5.

A Metro rider who's 62 or older and taps a regular TAP card can pay as much as $18 for a week of rides. With a Reduced Fare TAP card, that same week stops costing anything once it hits $5.

Riders with disabilities can get the same card, and it can take one trip to a counter. Metro's senior discount page and its disability discount page both say any Metro Customer Center will sign you up in person, with same-day processing available.

Here's the difference the card makes, using the prices Metro listed as of Oct. 23. The regular fare is $1.75 a ride, according to Metro's fares page, with caps of $5 a day and $18 over seven days. With the reduced-fare card, the caps are $2.50 a day and $5 over seven days. After that, rides are free.

1. Make sure you qualify. Seniors qualify at 62. Riders with disabilities need proof, and Metro lists five things that count as a quick check: Medicare coverage, SSI or SSDI benefits, a valid California DMV placard receipt, a Disabled Veterans ID or enrollment in an L.A. County special education program.
2. Bring the paper that proves it. If you qualify by disability, bring the document from that list that fits you. If you qualify by age, bring an official photo ID that shows your birth date. That's the kind of proof Metro asks seniors to show when they buy a single discounted ride.
3. Go to a counter on a day it's open. The six Customer Centers don't keep the same days, so check before you leave the house:
   • Union Station East Portal, One Gateway Plaza: weekdays 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., weekends 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
   • LAX/Metro Transit Center, 9225 Aviation Blvd.: the same hours as Union Station.
   • Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station, 11720 Wilmington Ave.: weekdays 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
   • Wilshire/Vermont, 3183 Wilshire Blvd.: weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
   • Baldwin Hills Crenshaw, 3650 W. Martin Luther King Blvd.: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
   • East Los Angeles, 4501 B Whittier Blvd.: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
   Those hours come from Metro's Customer Centers page. Only Union Station and LAX are open on Sundays, and if you show up in Baldwin Hills or East L.A. on a Monday, you've made the trip for nothing.
4. Or apply online. Both discount pages have an "Apply for Reduced Fare" link. The in-person route is the one Metro says can be processed the same day.
5. Load money on it and tap. Before you set out, know the clock. A ride costs 75 cents on weekdays from 5 to 9 a.m. and from 3 to 7 p.m. Every other weekday hour costs 35 cents, and so do weekends and federal holidays. Transfers cost nothing for two hours on TAP.

The mistake that undoes all of this is paying with cash. Metro's fares page says cash works only on buses, needs exact change and doesn't count toward any fare cap. Coins in the farebox never add up to a free ride.

If you're 62 or older and the card isn't in your hand yet, there's a fix for today. Metro says you can buy the senior one-way fare from any TAP vending machine and put it on an ordinary TAP card, with proof of age ready to show. That gets you one cheap ride. The daily and weekly caps come only with the card.

The card also works on 26 other transit agencies across L.A. County. Each sets its own senior age, Metro says, so call TAP Customer Service at 866.827.8646 before you count on a discount there.

Last step, if you're eligible: Metro says the reduced fare may be combined with LIFE, its low-income program, which gives qualifying county residents 20 free rides a month. Ask about it at the same counter.

Source: metro.net, retrieved October 24, 2026. Other sources: metro.net (2), metro.net (3), metro.net (4).